A/N: "What the World Needs Now" chapter. Part 1 (pretty sure there may end up being 3 chapters covering this … maybe 4 … since this particular chapter was completely unplanned).

xoxoxoxoxo

Chapter 14 – Lima, OH (October 14)

Brittany was sitting in her room, her parents had just left after dropping a bombshell on her. Santana had gone to the gym, leaving Brittany some space to work on her latest project from MIT.

Okay, so she wasn't shocked to find out that Pierce wasn't her biological father. She hadn't really thought about it fully or given it any real consideration because, as far as she was concerned, he was her dad. She knew from biology that there was no way she could have been created from her mom and dad's DNA. Finding out Stephen Hawking was her biological father … THAT had been a shock.

She sighed and picked up the Euler Brick problem she was working on; she had about five days left to figure it out. She was almost there. She picked up her blue crayon and started to make a note when she stopped.

Wait. If Stephen Hawking is my biological father and Stephen Hawking has ALS …

She got up from the bed and grabbed her laptop.

Xoxoxoxoxo

Santana walked into the Pierce house and said hello to Mama and Papa P before heading to their room to find Brittany.

Brittany was sitting on the bed, against the headboard, knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them, tears streaming down her face. She looked utterly broken.

She hurried over and wrapped her arms around Brittany.

"Baby, what's wrong? Talk to me."

"I can't marry you."

Santana's heart sank. "What? Why? What did I do? How do I fix it? I love you, Britt." Santana tried to stay calm but she knew the rapid fire questions were anything but.

"You didn't do anything. It's me."

"I don't understand."

Brittany took a deep breath. "You know how my dad and I look nothing alike?"

"Yeah. I mean, we never talk about it. You told me he's your dad, so, he's your dad."

Brittany smiled wanly. "We both know genetically it wasn't really plausible for him to be my father. I didn't think anything of it. He's my dad."

"Right."

"Anyway. Mom and dad came to talk to me a little while ago. Turns out, he's not my real dad."

"Okay, hold up, I'm gonna stop you right there. He may not be your biological father but he is your real dad. He's the one who taught you to ride a motorbike. He's the one who took you to the hospital after you fell off that motorbike. He's the guy who was at our competitions. He's your dad. I'm guessing your mom and dad told you who your bio-dad was?"

She nodded as the tears started up again.

"Okay … and for some reason, this is why you can't marry me?"

Brittany nodded again and started sobbing. Santana pulled Brittany's arms away from her knees and pulled Brittany into her lap, holding her closely, rubbing her back, and murmuring comforting sounds into her ear.

It took almost half an hour but, finally, Britt calmed down. Santana waited patiently for Brittany to start talking again; she didn't want to push, didn't want to send Britt into another crying jag. The was nothing she hated more in this world than seeing her Britt-Britt cry.

Brittany pulled away and tried to get off Santana's lap but Santana held her tight; whatever was going on, they would figure it out together.

Brittany sighed. She told Santana the story of how she was conceived.

"Turns out, mom had sex with Stephen Hawking on her honeymoon."

Santana blanked for a moment. "Stephen Hawking? The … scientist guy? Like, theory of the world or something?"

Britt smiled again. "You're thinking of A Brief History of Time. Yeah. Him."

"Okay …" Santana still didn't see the connection.

Britt looked so sad.

"Baby … what is it?"

"He has ALS."

Santana frowns. She knows she's heard of it but she doesn't really know what it is.

"Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It's a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Although not so much anymore because he died in 1941." Brittany sounded like she was reciting something she found on a website.

Santana nodded. She had heard about Lou Gehrig. He was a baseball player or something and … something about the disease causing him to retire.

"Santana, there's a five to ten percent chance that I could develop ALS. I … can't do that to you. I can't … I just …"

Santana frowned. She felt like she was missing some pretty vital pieces of information.

"Brittany, honey, if you have a five to ten percent chance of developing ALS … doesn't that mean you have a ninety to ninety five percent chance of NOT developing it? I'm no math genius but those seem like pretty good odds."

"I can't risk it. If we get married and I do develop it, life expectancy is about three years. It depends on disease changes and the types of medical care chosen but … three years is average. I mean, Stephen Hawking lived fifty-five years after he was diagnosed but he's an exception.

"I can't saddle you with that. I can't let you throw your life away taking care of me. I … I …" she broke down again and Santana pulled her in tighter, running her hand up and down Britt's back and rocking her gently. Britt tried, briefly, to get out of her hold but Santana refused to let her go and Brittany finally just collapsed into her.

Santana maneuvered them into a lying down position, still holding Brittany tightly in her arms. She felt Britt go limp in her arms and heard the deep, even, breathing of sleep.

Santana held onto Britt but slid her phone out of her pocket and started to do some research.

Xoxoxoxoxo

It was almost three hours later when Brittany finally began to stir. At first, she was confused; she looked at Santana and her face dropped. Then she seemed to realize she was in Santana's arms and tried to disentangle herself but Santana wasn't having it.

"Britt, stop. We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about Santana." Brittany shook her head. "I can't …"

"Hey. Listen to me for a minute, okay?"

Brittany nodded.

"So, while you were asleep, I did some searching. Did you know you have a couple of half-siblings? At least two, probably three. There's rumors that the third one isn't Stephen's but his ex-wife insists that he is. Anyway," she waved a hand, that so wasn't important, "none of his children have ALS. Which means, you probably won't develop it either."

Brittany started to protest.

"There's a simple blood, saliva, or cheek swab test. Results take two to three weeks. You have a ninety to ninety-five percent chance of not developing it. All the evidence seems to be that he had 'sporadic' childhood ALS."

"Santana …"

"Britt," Santana took a deep breath, "I don't care if you might develop ALS. If all we have is a couple of years, I'll take them."

"But … I can't do that to you."

Santana thought for a moment. "Britt … if I came to you and said that a new study showed that my breast implants have a twenty-five percent chance of causing cancer … and I tried to break up with you … would you leave me?"

"Of course not! Oh, my god, Santana! Is that true?"

"No, Britt, it's not. But think about how you just answered me. You wouldn't leave me even if I asked you to. What makes you think I love you any less than that? If you develop it then it's my privilege to take care of you. I would rather have you for three years if that's all I get than not have you at all. What are you going to do? Be alone for the rest of your life? No, Britt, I'm not letting you leave me. We made each other that promise."

Brittany sighed.

"So. We'll get you whatever test we need to get you and we'll figure out what we need to do once we get the results. There are treatments that can help. People think Hawking had children's ALS which is why he developed it so young and why he was able to live so long. None of his other kids have it. I think I'll take those odds."

Brittany was quiet for awhile.

"Santana … if I have it … I won't be able to have children. I don't want to risk passing it on to them. And … I know we haven't really talked about it … do you even want children?"

"With you? Absolutely."

Brittany chuckled slightly. "Just with me?"

Santana loosened her hold and pulled back a little so she could look into Brittany's eyes. "Yes. Just with you. Having kids is a bigger commitment than marriage. I mean, think about it, if a marriage doesn't work out, you get divorced. You really can't divorce your kids. And even if you divorce your spouse, you still share those kids so you and your spouse need to trust each other to put the needs of the kids ahead of your own."

She bit her lower lip as she thought about it. "I trust you, Britt. Completely. I don't think I could ever trust anyone the way I trust you. If we hadn't got back together, I probably wouldn't even think of having kids because it takes so long to build that kind of trust. By the time it was built and I got married, how old would I be? Would I even be able to have them? Or, if I could HAVE them, SHOULD I? Would I be too old to run around with them?"

Santana shakes her head and shrugs. "Add to that the fact that I'd still be in love with you and it would take even longer for someone to get me to even try to open up and trust them. Who wants to work that hard? Knowing that my heart would always belong to someone else.

"So, yeah. With you. I want kids. With you."

"If, um, I do test positive … I don't wanna wait to have them."

Santana's whole body sighed with relief. Britt was still going to marry her. "Okay. Then we won't wait."

Brittany pouts a bit and Santana lightly kisses her forehead. "What's the pout for?"

"I really wanted to have kids, like be pregnant and stuff," she said sadly.

"Then you can have my kids."

"What?" Brittany looked confused.

"We'll use my eggs, get a tall, blond haired, blue-eyed, dancing genius as the donor and implant them into you. That way, you aren't contributing the DNA but you're having my baby."

Brittany looked at Santana like she hung the moon.

"Really? You'd … you'd wanna do that?"

Santana looked at her seriously. "Britt, I would do anything for you. Anything to make you happy. Anything to not see you cry like that. I love you more than words will ever express. Love doesn't even seem like a big enough word for how I feel about you."

Brittany smiled at her and Santana couldn't help but smile back.

"I love you so much, Santana, I just … I didn't want you to feel trapped with an invalid wife."

Santana leaned up and kissed Brittany softly. "I would never feel trapped with you, Britt. When I'm with you is when I feel the freest."

Brittany smiled again and leaned in to kiss Santana.

"So, just so I'm clear," Santana looked at Britt, "we're still getting married?

"As long as you still want to?" Brittany sounded a little hesitant.

"Of course I do!"

"Oh, good."

Santana leaned back up and kissed Brittany. It wasn't passionate; simply letting Brittany know that she's loved unconditionally.

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

A/N: I did a lot of research on ALS. The information in this chapter came from . This chapter wasn't planned. It struck me about three weeks ago that ALS could be genetic. So I looked it up and found it could be. I could imagine Brittany freaking out about that. So, this chapter now exists.

A/N2: So, I swore I had written the "do you wanna have kids" conversation in an earlier work. I couldn't find it so I figured I just wrote it in my head so much I was sure I'd done it. Hopefully, I haven't repeated anything that I've written before but, sometimes, ya just lose track.